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CONSUMER'S RESPONSE TOWARDS ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS:

EVALUATION OF DISH WASHING DETERGENT POWDER PREPARED FROM
WASTE MARBLE SLURRY

Article · January 2016

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Wisal Shah Nafees Mohammad

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J. Sc. & Tech. Univ. Peshawar, 2016, 40 (1), 01-08

CONSUMER’S RESPONSE TOWARDS ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS:

EVALUATION OF DISH WASHING DETERGENT POWDER
PREPARED FROM WASTE MARBLE SLURRY
WISAL SHAH1 AND MUHAMMAD NAFEES1
1
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, 25120, Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract
The main objective of this study was to identify a simple method of recycling for
marble slurry waste by converting it into dish-washing powder. For this purpose four
formulations were prepared and evaluated by comparing them with commercial dish
washing powder. For this purpose the prepared products were distributed in five house
holds. For evaluation, a criteria based on four points were used. i) safe to use in terms
of skin sensitivity ii) effective in cleaning iii) rinse easily and iv) consumer friendly in
terms of economy. Consumer’s responses were recorded and analyzed. It was found
that most people with skin allergies to toxic corrosive chemicals, prefers marble
containing dish washing powder. The dish washing powder prepared from 50%
Calcium Carbonate marble slurry, 20% Soda Ash, 20% Sulphonic acid and 10% soap
stone shows excellent response in comparison of dish washing powder available in the
market. It was therefore, concluded that the marble slurry waste can be converted into
dishwashing powder.
Keywords: Marble Slurry, Recycling, Dish washing powder, product evaluation, point based
criteria.

Introduction the mining, processing and polishing stages

Marble processing units are generating
large amount of slurry which are consist of
water and marble particles, produced during
cutting, and polishing process of marbles. This
slurry is disposed off into surface water bodies
like rivers, streams or lagoons, without any
treatment, which causes a serious
environmental problem (Torres et al., 2004,
Hernandez and Rinc 2001). More than 56
million tons of marble wastes have been
produced worldwide in 2003 during the
quarrying, processing, and polishing
procedures (Aukour, and Al-Qinna 2008). He
bhoub and coworkers (2011) reported that
almost 70% of marble minerals get wasted in
with obvious impact on the environment. In
recent years, recycling has been encouraged
throughout the world. Marble waste recycling
is, undoubtedly, the best alternative to reduce
the impact of marble industries on the
environment, if the slurry is recovered
properly (Correia et al., 2011; Pelisser et al.,
2011).
In 1980s, it has been revealed that the
wastes produced as a result of “end-of-pipe”
treatment has economic value, if properly
marketed. This discovery opened a new
paradigm in waste management. If
materialized, it will minimize the use of virgin
resources and the generation of industrial
 Wisal Shah and Muhammad Nafees
waste at the manufacturing source. Waste
minimization, pollution prevention and cleaner
production are thus specified as the top
hierarchy for determining how waste/pollution
should be managed, followed by reuse,
recycling, treatment and disposal (Bishop
2000). Marble Stone Slurry wastes
predominantly consists of by 99% calcium
carbonate. Therefore, by using this Marble
Stone Slurry, as raw materials in different
sectors, will help to protect the environment as
well as add to economics. The potential
sectors in which marble dust is used as a raw
materials are building material, glass, ceramic,
paint, rubber, glue and paper industry (Bilgin
et al., 2012; Gazi et al., 2012; Aliabdo et al.,
2014; Gencel et al., 2012)
In 2001 mineral testing laboratory
(MTL) of Pakistan prepared dish-washing
powder from Marble Slurry Waste (MSW).
They prepared two formulations and claim
that this is comparatively easy way of utilizing
Marble Stone Slurry waste, but they were not
evaluated in the real world (MTL, 2001).
According to MTL dish washing powder with
30% Marble slurry and 70% other additives,
like soap stone (30%), soda ash (20%), Quartz
(10%) foaming agent (5%) and lemon oil (5%)
is a good option. In this way for 30% waste
one has to arrange 70% virgin raw materials
which seems an expensive option. Besides,
various researchers have identified various
alternate uses of Marble slurry waste. Most of
these solutions are either not cost effective or
need large scale infrastructure. The conversion
of Marble slurry waste in to dish washing
powder seems simple.
In this study an attempt is made to
increase the percentage and replace the
already tested additive with the objective to
identify a cost effective method for conversion
of Marble slurry waste into dish washing
powder. For this purpose, dish washing
powders of various compositions were
prepared and presented before households
with the idea to identify best possible sample.
Materials & Methods
Two formulation of dish washing powder
prepared in 2001 by Mineral Testing
Laboratory (MTL) revealed that 30-40%
marble powder and 60-70% virgin materials
like soap stone, soda ash, quartz, foaming
agent and lemon oil were used (Fig.1). In
these two formulations the uses of virgin
materials were comparatively high. Therefore,
it was assumed that they might not be cost
effective options.
2
 Consumer’s response towards eco-friendly products …..
45
40
35
30
Percentage
25
20
15
10
5
0
Marble Soap
powder Stone
Fig.1. Dish washing powders MTL formulations
In the present study, first the marble
slurry was tested for physical and chemical
characterization. Physical characterizations of
marble slurry powder include the analysis for
particle size according to American Society
for Testing Material (ASTMC136-01, 2006)
method. Similarly, dish washing powder
prepared from marble slurry was also tested
and compared with the particles size of dish
washing powder available in the market to
check its compatibility. Whereas chemical
analysis includes SiO2, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, and
Loss on ignition (LOI) tests were conducted
by using methods ASTM C-25-11, (2011). For
determination of heavy metals like Cd, Mn, Cr
and Ni, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)
spectroscopy was used.
Commercial Dish Washing Powder (CDWP)
Different commercial brands are available in
the market. For this study, a brand common
among the respondents was selected for
comparison. The MTL formulation was also
prepared for comparison.
3
MTL Formula I
MTL Formula II
Soda Ash Quartz Foaming Lemon
agent Oil
Dish washing powder prepared in Lab
To decrease the contents ratio of virgin
raw materials and increase the quantity of
Marble slurry waste, four different
compositions were prepared. Various
chemicals additives including sodium
carbonate (soda ash), sodium hydroxide
(caustic soda), citric acid, soap stone, and
sulphonic acid were used as ingredients in the
preparation of dish washing powders along
with 50-60%dehydrated Marble slurry. Based
on chemical composition four different
formulations Type 1 (T1), Type 2(T2), Type
3(T3) and Type 4 (T4) of dish washing
powders were prepared in laboratory (Table.
2). To evaluate the quality of dish washing
detergent powder and consumer confidence
level, the new and MTL formulations along
with commercial brand were distributed
among 05 households one by one for
comparison. Before distribution labels packing
were removed from the commercial brand.
 Wisal Shah and Muhammad Nafees

Table 2 Formulation of dish washing powder prepared in Laboratory

Percentage Composition
S No Raw Material
T1 T2 T3 T4
1 Marble powder 60 50 60 50
2 Soap Stone 10 10 10 10
3 Soda Ash 15 20 00 00
4 Caustic soda 00 00 15 20
5 Sulfunic Acid 00 20 00 20
6 Citric Acid 15 00 15 00

Criteria for Consumer/Household survey d. Consumer friendly in term of economy as

The consumers’ responses were recorded and
evaluated on a pre-set point based criteria like;
a. Safe to use in terms of skin sensitivity,
allergy and softness. In the survey,
questions were asked from the consumers
that after which wash (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and
5th) the skin problem was observed, on the
basis of which points were awarded.
b. Easy to rinse.
c. Highly effective cleaning and foaming,
and
compared to dish washing powder
available in market.
Respondents’ responses were recorded
after five days usage of each dish washing
powder on the above point based criteria for
comparison (Table. 3).The criterion of unit
price of all new formulations was determined
on the basis of raw material cost, used in
preparation. Percentage weight-age values was
assign on how important the each
criterionis100% weight-age was divided into
four sub-weight-age breakup values according
to set point based criteria (Table 3).

Table 3 Point based criteria for the evaluation of dish washing powder

Criteria Sub-Criteria Scores Response % Weight age

th
5 Wash 10 Excellent
4th Wash 8 Very Good
rd
Skin Complaint 3 Wash 6 Good 30
nd
2 Wash 4 Satisfactory
st
1 Wash 2 Poor

1st Wash 10 Excellent

nd
2 Wash 8 Very Good
rd
Rinse Easily 3 wash 6 Good 20
th
4 wash 4 Satisfactory
th
5 wash 2 Poor

4
 Consumer’s response towards eco-friendly products …..

1st Wash 10 Excellent

nd
2 Wash 8 Very Good
Clean Efficiently 3rd wash 6 Good 20
th
4 wash 4 Satisfactory
th
5 wash 2 Poor

less by 70% or below 10 Excellent

Less by 60% 8 Very Good
Unit Price Less by 40% 6 Good 30
Less by 20% 4 Satisfactory
Equal to CDWP 2 Poor
Total weight age 100

Maximum score for point based criteria survey
was assumed 10 for excellent response, while
minimum score was 2 awarded for poor
Score awarded for each point = Mean Survey Score x
Weight age
response. For product evaluation Points
awarded to each criterion was calculated by
following equation (see equation 1).
% 100………..Eq. 1

that particles size of all powder were less than

Results and Discussion
Sieve test of dried marble slurry and
dish washing powder (formulations and
sample collected from the market) revealed
Table 4 Sieve Analysis for the Determination of Particle Size of dish washing powder made
from marble slurry and available in market
2.00 mm. A slight difference of 4-2% and 5-
10% in particle size was observed when
passed through 0.3 and 0.075 mm sieve
respectively. This shows that the marble
slurry need no extra treatment in terms of
grinding and can be used directly for
preparation of dishwashing powder (Table. 4).

Average Passing %age

Sieve size
S. No Dried Marble Dish washing powder made Dish washing Powder available
(mm)
Slurry from Marble slurry in the market
1 2.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
2 0.60 99.00 99.00 99.00
3 0.30 96.00 96.00 98.00
4 0.075 95.00 90.00 94.00

Marble is a metamorphic rock, such as carbonate (Topçu et al., 2009). Chemical

limestone, that contains largely calcium analysis shows that marble slurry consist of

5
 Wisal Shah and Muhammad Nafees

97% calcium carbonate (CaO=45, LoI=45%).
Rest of which is consists of silica contents,
2.87% and fractions of iron oxide, 0.02%,
aluminum oxide 0.01%, and magnesium
oxide, 0.05% (Table 5). Loss on ignition (LoI)
at 950 ºC shows that about 45% MSW
contents was converted into CO2. All of the
investigated heavy metals found bellow the
detection limit of instrument 0.001 ppm (Table
5).
Presence of heavy metals or any
hazardous agent is objectionable and
secondary use is generally not recommended.
As all the laboratory test conducted for such
metals was within the permissible limit and
the marble slurry dust is qualifies for
preparation of dish washing powder.
Mean values of household survey
scores was considered after recording
responses from five households against each
set criteria to shows the results. Results of
household evaluation to check the
applicability of marble slurry in dish washing
powder with commercial dish washing powder
shows that Type-II dish washing powder
having good response to each criterion
(88.88%) from consumer in overall respects
according to set criteria as compare to
commercial dish washing powder (68%)
(Table 6).

Table 5 Percentage chemical composition of Dried Marble Slurry

S. No. Chemical Analysis Results (%)

1 SiO2 02.87
2 Al2O3 00.01
3 Fe2 O3 00.02
4 Mg O 00.05
5 Ca O 52.00
6 LoI 45.00
7 Cd BDL
8 Mn BDL
9 Cr BDL
10 Ni BDL
BDL=Below Detection Limit

Table 6 Household survey Percent Weight-age results for Product Evaluation

Formulation Skin Friendly Clean Efficiently Rinse Easily Unit Price Total Points
MTL I 21.60 15.20 16.00 12.00 64.80
MTL II 22.80 14.40 16.00 18.00 71.20
T1 15.60 12.80 15.20 24.00 67.60
T2 26.40 19.20 19.20 24.00 88.88
T3 16.80 16.00 13.60 24.00 70.40
T4 19.20 15.20 15.20 24.00 73.60
CDWP 27.60 16.80 17.60 6.00 68.00

6
 Consumer’s response towards eco-friendly products …..
Consumers’ response for skin friendly
criterion was recorded after using it for the 5th
time each dish washing powder. Results shows
that CDWP, MTL I, MTL II and TII have
27.6, 21.6, 22.8 and 26.4 percent weight-age
respectively out of whole 30 percent weight-
age. Skin problems were observed in T1, T3
and T4 dish washing powders. These include
slippery skin, skin breakage, skin itching, and
rashes. These problems are caused due to the
additives.
The results assess in the account of
easy to rinse criteria revealed that the CDWP
and T2 dish washing powders shows highest
percent weight-age 17.6 and 19.2 respectively
out of the total 20 percent weight-age, as
compared to others competent dish washing
powders in the consumers response survey. In
the survey, question was asked from the
consumers that in which wash the washing
powder rinse completely from dish.
105
85
Unit Price/Kg
65
45
25
5
MTL I
Fig.2. Unit price comparison
The consumer response towards T2
composition was due to formation of Sodium
salt of linear alkyl-benzene sulfunic acid (Na-
LAS). Sodium salt of alkyl-benzene sulfunic
acid (Na-LAS) is formed by the neutralization
7
The criterion for cleaning efficiency
shows good response for CDWP and T2 form
the remaining others dish washing powders.
The percent weight-age obtained by CDWP
and T2 were16.8 and 19.2 respectively out of
total 20 percent weight-age, which was higher
than the others. Respondents were asked about
their satisfaction from the cleaning ability of
tested dish washing powder.
Unit price criterion in term of
consumer’s economics was evaluated without
respondents’ participation. It was assessed
simply by calculating the cost of ingredients
used in the preparation of a known quantity
unit (Kg) of dish washing powders. Results
shows that Type II dish washing powder has
60% less cost than CDWP available in the
market. It was due the high amount of marble
slurry utilization than the raw materials. By
reducing the amount of raw materials the cost
of product was also reduced (Fig. 2).
Other Powder
CDWP 100
MTL II T1 T2 T3 T4
of linear alkyl-benzene sulphonic acid (H-
LAS) with sodium carbonate (Equation2).
Because sodium salt of alkyl-benzene sulfunic
acid (Na-LAS) is the most common surfactant
used in the detergernt manufacturing.
 Wisal Shah and Muhammad Nafees
According to soap and detergent association
the exposure percentage of LAS composition
in dishwashing detergent should be in the
range of 5-30% (Organization of Existing
Chemcials Database, 2005).It has earned its
popularity due to its eco-friendly nature and
easy biodegradability once released to waste
water and high washing, Na-LAS can be
found in many cleaning products like dish
washing powders and washing pellets.
2H-LAS (l) + Na2CO3 (s) → 2Na-LAS (s) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l)…… Equation-2
Conclusion & Recommendations
By using the marble slurry waste in
dish washing powders is one of the good
options. The percent composition of raw
materials can be reduced which ultimately
reduce the unit cost of product, and increases
cleaning and rinsing ability. Similarly, by
reducing the amount of acidic and alkaline
materials in households dish washing powders
the skin sensitivity problems was not
observed. It was concluded that dish washing
powder prepared from 50% marble stone
slurry, 20% soda ash, 20% sulphonic acid and
10% soap stone was good and user friendly.
By doing so, impact of marble industry on
environment can be minimized and is strongly
recommended.
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